The Department of Social Development declined to comment on Wednesday on the daily lottery game to be introduced in November.
”I am still waiting for the minister to decide whether he is going to issue a statement,” departmental spokesman Mbulelo Musi said on Wednesday. ”At the moment there is no comment.” Last week, Social Development Minister Zola Skweyiya said he had a problem with the National Lottery Board because he did not know what it did with the money that it raised or which good causes it supported.
The New National Party (NNP) said almost R86-million had not been distributed for Reconstruction and Development Programmes and miscellaneous purposes.
”Now they want to implement a lottery on a daily basis but they can’t even distribute the money they receive twice a week,” NNP representative on social development Adriaan van Jaarsveld said.
”It (the money) is not supposed to stay in the kitty while South Africans are suffering on a daily basis.” Van Jaarsveld said the National Lottery Board rejected 65% of the applications it received for lottery money.
The SA Council of Churches said the introduction of a new lottery would be high on its agenda when it met next week.
”No doubt this matter will receive major attention at the committee meeting on Tuesday and several options will be explored,” SACC general secretary Molefe Tsele said.
”One of these (options) will be to engage lottery operator Uthingo and we expect them to assure us the new lottery game will not hamper social causes.” The national lottery operator Uthingo announced it would launch a new daily game — Keno — on November 11.
”Keno will comprise daily draws with jackpot amounts of R6 000 up for grabs,” representative Shenanda Janse van Rensburg said.
He said players would have the opportunity to select six numbers from a range of one to 50.
Each set of six numbers constituted one entry in Keno and a player could choose how much they want to play per board.
A player could choose to play for R1.50, R3, R5 or R6.
During the daily draw, 10 numbers would be randomly generated by the draw machine and players matching three to six numbers would win a prize, Van Rensburg said.
”Following extensive research, Keno was identified as the preferred new game… due to the opportunity it offers players to win prizes on a daily basis.
”We believe the new game will be welcomed by players who have indicated that they preferred more frequent games with different prize structures and game machines,” he said.
But the Sunday Times reported that only three cents of every rand spent on lotto tickets had been paid to worthy causes, with no funds allocated at all in the 2000/01 cycle.
This was rejected by Department of Trade and Industry Deputy Director General Astrid Ludin. She said the lottery board and distributing agencies had made great strides in the disbursement of lotto funds, contrary to general perceptions.
The story was ”not factually correct” and gave a wrong impression of the actual situation, Ludin told the parliamentary portfolio committee on social development on Wednesday.
Ludin said the distribution process had gathered significant momentum over the past two years.
About 67% of the available funds for charities had been distributed, and 73% and 48% for sport and recreation, and arts, culture and national heritage respectively.
During the 2001/02 financial year, R222,3-million of the available R439,2-million in the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund (NLDTF) had been disbursed.
From April to September 2002, the distributing agencies had allocated about R277,3-million; a 20% increase over the total 2001/02 figure.
It was expected to be in the region of R300-330-million by the end of the financial year, Ludin said.
About R4,1-million in emergency funding had also been paid out to 80 beneficiaries in December 2000 and January 2001.
She was confident the money ”is getting out there”, and certainly reaching charities and sport and recreation organisations.
This was significant, considering that the lotto was launched only in March 2000, the national lottery board appointed in November, and the distributing agencies established in February 2001.
The distribution of funds had to be handled responsibly, and for brand new agencies using new untested procedures to successfully disburse over half a billion rand was an achievement worthy of praise.
All unallocated funds remained in trust and would also be disbursed.
The department was heartened at what had been achieved so far, but recognised that still more could be done, Ludin said.
The department was currently drafting an amendment bill to address the ”gaps” in the principle act, and it was hoped to present this to Cabinet and Parliament later this year.
Among other things, it proposed to combine the non-existent ”RDP” and ”miscellaneous” distributing agencies into one, to be responsible for ”special purposes”. This agency would fund special projects, such as education, health, crime prevention, and child abuse prevention.
Other amendments included enabling natural persons, and not just juristic persons, to apply for grants for charitable work done by them, and larger grants to bodies with a proven track record, such as Red Cross Children’s hospitals, to be renewed annually.
Ludin said it was up to charities and other institutions to make applications for funds, and the distribution agencies were to a large extent ”dependent” on the applications received and proposals made.
But, ways of reducing the high rate of unsuccessful applications –mainly incomplete applications and those without merit in terms of the criteria — would also be addressed, possibly through education campaigns. – Sapa